"So what's your schedule looking like? Marine 5 is coming out in the next couple of months, right?" AJ murmurs, lazily resting in his arms.
Mike strokes her arms, nodding slowly. "Yeah. I'll have a bunch of interviews and stuff... probably with Maryse, Heath, and Naomi. The rest of the misfits are on Raw so I guess they'll be fending for themselves." He smirks. "As if WWE will line up solo interviews with Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel."
AJ chuckles. "You're evil, husband." She kisses him slowly, sighing into his mouth before leaning back. "Wrestlemania season right around the corner. I definitely do not envy any of you all of the hideous scheduling."
He smirks down at her. "Yeah, right, I know you're looking forward to the Hall of Fame ceremony and getting dressed up again."
She pouts. "I'm so wearing my sneakers." When he tickles her, she squeaks and squirms around, finally straddling him and stopping his fingers' attack, a challenging look in her eye. "Maybe we can bring Sara Louisa," she suggests once they're quiet and calm again.
"That would be adorable," he murmurs into her hair, kissing the top of her head. "I like it."
-x
When he's not at home, Mike's frustrated. Off-balanced. He feels empty without a title on his shoulder, Maryse glancing up at him worriedly as they walk down the hallway side by side. "You alright?" she asks after a few moments.
"Yeah." He squeezes her hand and then opens the locker room door for her. He hears Heath and Rhyno talking lowly already and just by glances alone, neither of them look so happy so Maryse heads over to see what's going on while Mike oversees the room. It doesn't look great but at least he has his private room back after last week, even though it's dingy and old looking. He'd had to go complain to Shane after a terrible time in the regular locker room, separated from Maryse and forced to stay with the average competitors.
At least Shane is more understanding than Daniel, willing to compromise to make his A-Lister talent happy. Either way, the complaints he has can only go to one person so he collects Maryse and leads the way to the office, interrupting Daniel's little snack- and what a way to start Smackdown that is- to tell him off for how nasty his locker room is. How this leads to Mike getting his rematch against Ambrose in a lumberjack match, he's not sure, but he's decidedly not ready for that level of foolishness.
By the end of the night, Heath and Rhyno are bickering worse over Rhyno trying to eliminate Heath from the Battle Royal to determine who would be in the Royal Rumble on Sunday, and Mike is far from prepared for the match to come but he does the best he can, even with lumberjacks tugging at him, trying to beat him down, making him anxious with their presence alone.
Maryse tries to help but nothing works- Dean fights off the lumberjacks and retains even after all of the lumberjacks invaded the ring and brawled to lead into the Rumble, tensions rising higher. Miz sits on the outside, staring dazedly out while Maryse rubs his arm, tries to get him to respond. He's all but catatonic as she talks to him, finally guiding him up to his feet and leading him up the ramp. He's still motionless on the couch, staring ahead blankly, when Maryse presses a phone to his ear.
"Husband? Are you there? Can you talk?" It's AJ and he blinks, drawn to the worry in her voice. "Maryse is going to get the trainer in a moment if you don't, so-"
"Sweetheart?" he mumbles, watching out of the corner of his eye as Maryse slumps in relief. He feels bad for worrying her, but things still feel so numb. Without the intercontinental title, his role in Wrestlemania grows more and more questionable.
"Are you ok?"
"I think so."
"Just dazed, huh? Take the phone, I'll talk to you until you feel better," she says and he obliges, nodding stiffly at Maryse as he grips the phone. She smiles at him before leaving to check on Heath, Mike leaning back to listen to AJ talk about her book, the things Sara's been doing today.
It definitely helps ground him.